Open-Mesh vs UniFi network? what to go with?

i have a block of units where i have a setup with a netcomm HS960 and 3 NP730's for my paid wireless internet setup that works ok but slow as a snail and poeple are complaining.i am looking at UniFi and Openmesh wireless networks but cannot choose between them.Can someone with experience in both these networks give me some direection on what one i should go for and why??i need the ability to print tickets for access from office and also for eople to pay online for access, i think both theser system do this but whats the best way to go and why??I have above average IT skills as well. I set up the previous HS960 network around the place with alla ccess points wired in about 10 years ago with Cat5 cable.would it just be a matter plug the new access points in and off i go with a new system or what?

Just finished 2 customization scripts for UniFi, been waiting 2 years for UBNT to do it and gave up and did both myself with 24 hours each, just proves how easy it was.Easy UniFi Easy Voucher Creator V1.0 http://community.ubnt.com/t5/UniFi/Just-wrote-my-second-script-Easy-UniFi-Voucher-Creator/m-p/900210#U900210Slow down Excessive Downloaders http://community.ubnt.com/t5/UniFi/Created-my-first-unifi-script-automatically-slow-people-down-if/m-p/895964#U895964

Re: Open-Mesh vs UniFi network? what to go with?

Just finished 2 customization scripts for UniFi, been waiting 2 years for UBNT to do it and gave up and did both myself with 24 hours each, just proves how easy it was.Easy UniFi Easy Voucher Creator V1.0 http://community.ubnt.com/t5/UniFi/Just-wrote-my-second-script-Easy-UniFi-Voucher-Creator/m-p/900210#U900210Slow down Excessive Downloaders http://community.ubnt.com/t5/UniFi/Created-my-first-unifi-script-automatically-slow-people-down-if/m-p/895964#U895964

Re: Open-Mesh vs UniFi network? what to go with?

It means that you can't directly compare the two - they're both very different.UniFi is a system of access points, mostly cabled together, working in unison and being managed by a single controller. For the most part, they're intended to be cabled individually, though each wired radio can support up to 4 radios that aren't cabled together. There is no mesh networking.A Wireless Mesh is a whole different ball game - the radios (especially their own branded ones) are small and pretty low powered; they're meant to be put everywhere and they're managed through the opencloud.com service. They dynamically determine the best route back to a wired interface by trying to figure out how to route data across several openmesh access points. I'm not going into much detail, so I suggest googling for more conceptual information about how mesh networks work. We can't know more without knowing a lot more about your environment; you probably want UniFi, but it's hard to tell without knowing how many people to support; what your coverage area is (including distances); construction type (wood, concrete, etc); and if you are able to run cabling to each place that a radio should go if designed correctly.It's best if you can include some maps/floorplans too with some markup on what exists today along with measurements and coverage areas marked out.

Re: Open-Mesh vs UniFi network? what to go with?

the attached image is a floor plan of the whole area, about 3000sqmthe length of the buildings are about 40 metres the red spots are the acces spoints and the pool is in the centre.the current access points are about 3metres off the ground on a pole with standard omni antennas, they are all cabled into the router.the building is made out of bessa block and concrete filled in most areas. the building is 3 stories high and 3 units on each floor in each block.the access point in the middle of the place is about 15 metres away from the closest unit and about 30 metres from the furthest.the ones at each end of the building are about 10 metres away form the closest unit and about 30metres from the furthest.they are almost line of sight to the furthest, you can see it if you are standing at the front doors of the unit on the furthest away, rest of the units are line of sight.

Just finished 2 customization scripts for UniFi, been waiting 2 years for UBNT to do it and gave up and did both myself with 24 hours each, just proves how easy it was.Easy UniFi Easy Voucher Creator V1.0 http://community.ubnt.com/t5/UniFi/Just-wrote-my-second-script-Easy-UniFi-Voucher-Creator/m-p/900210#U900210Slow down Excessive Downloaders http://community.ubnt.com/t5/UniFi/Created-my-first-unifi-script-automatically-slow-people-down-if/m-p/895964#U895964

Re: Open-Mesh vs UniFi network? what to go with?

I can say one thing about open-mesh, speaking from experience...if you set up a network with them, never let a repeater node be more than one hop away from a wired node. and be sure it has good signal. also they are very low powered (which is not always a bad thing)

Re: Open-Mesh vs UniFi network? what to go with?

well from research ive done these access points are 2.5 more powerful than my netcomms, the are a/b/g/n where my netcomms are only a/b/g and i am after n on a new setup.i think this is what i will get, a few unifi outdoor ap's, but what you think about running them all through the ToughSwitch?? is that necesary or just any switch will do and run the 3 PoE for each access point??

Just finished 2 customization scripts for UniFi, been waiting 2 years for UBNT to do it and gave up and did both myself with 24 hours each, just proves how easy it was.Easy UniFi Easy Voucher Creator V1.0 http://community.ubnt.com/t5/UniFi/Just-wrote-my-second-script-Easy-UniFi-Voucher-Creator/m-p/900210#U900210Slow down Excessive Downloaders http://community.ubnt.com/t5/UniFi/Created-my-first-unifi-script-automatically-slow-people-down-if/m-p/895964#U895964

Re: Open-Mesh vs UniFi network? what to go with?

I believe OM and Unifi are designed to solve different issues. OM is true mesh networking with all the good and bad that entails. With OM you buy a bunch of APs, scatter them around, sign into the cloud controller, add them by MAC and you are done. They also allow auto-adoption of alien nodes (OM devices in range connected to someone else's internet). It is VERY simple. I think the design goal is to enable community wifi run by the community with little coordination or central management. Unifi is not "mesh." It doesn't use batman/robin routing. It is designed to be centrally managed by someone with pretty high level technical skills. It is not 0 config self healing everyone-jump-in-the-pool-the-water-is-warm party hardware it's more Serious Business. I am about to deploy my first Unifi site. Based on my test data I'm optimistic it will work MUCH better than the OM equipment for my client's needs BUT it's going to require more of my time to get it Right. Honestly the client could have rolled out the OM equipment themselves and done as good a job as I did. I trust they don't read these forums. YMMV IMHO etc.

Re: Open-Mesh vs UniFi network? what to go with?

I think OM and UBNT are complimentary when you have a large area to cover set up the backbone with UBNT and then the indoor distribution with OM this will give the best results with quite easy setup and management.

Re: Open-Mesh vs UniFi network? what to go with?

Given that both units can be had for less than $100 each from Streakwave, order some & try them out. That being said, WHT is correct then he says you're comparing apples to oranges. Here's what I posted about this topic (Open Mesh devices) almost a year ago:

"We do lots of PTP & PTMP (connecting buildings, IP Cameras, etc), enterprise installs using UniFi, Ruckus, & Aruba, and quite a bit of outdoor (marina & campground) installs. That being said, we have 23 small Open Mesh networks (1-5 units, all OM2Ps - I like them better than the OM1P) that truly run flawlessly. However, I would not consider OM for a MDU or hotel installation. Playing devil's advocate, LivePort has based their business model on these so I'm guessing they're having to meet with some form of success. 90% of our Open Mesh installs only see 10-15 users a day. These particular sites don't need the ability to scale or support large numbers of users. For MDU or hotel installs I want more control over the individual AP. When you hardwire the OM units, they still all run on the same channel (5 by default, yes I promise its 5) and the meshing function ceases and you lose the ability to do any channel separation.

As for real world experience with these units, I have a sports bar that averages about 350 users a month and about 15 gigs of transfer a month. I use two OM2Ps. I have a small country club where I cover a fairly large area with five OM2Ps (2 are hardwired, the other units mesh) with an average of 110 users a month and about 20 gigs of transfer a month. The cloud controller, captive portal (works great), traffic shaping, email alerting, ability to point DNS to OpenDNS; were wonderful for me on small jobs. Similar type capabilities are here with UniFi 3.x and AWS instances, although it is more daunting if you're a noob... As Dave D says, these units (both OM and UniFi) are dirt cheap. Grab a couple of both and do some performance testing on them. Find a way to give away free wifi in a high use area and see how they hold up. You may decide they will suit your needs, you may decide to try something else entirely."

What UniFi does is uplink up to 4 units that are isolated and connect them to one wired unit to expand coverage of the network. Be aware that you cannot expand user density with this feature, as all traffic would be going through the wired unit, and you also have a performance penalty of up to 50% on the island units, compared with a wired one.

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